Ha!

Jeff is a sustainability hero.  I've just spent the last few days in Idaho, learning all about sustainable wheat farming, part of a pilot that General Mills is doing.  My new job is all about telling General Mills sustainability story.  It's pretty cool that we have one to tell, too.

I love being able to tell people we have one car. 

I love telling people we live so close to places we can bike to.

I love the money we save on a second car payment, gas, insurance, maintenance. 

The more I learn about the issues facing the planet (growing populations demanding increased food production, which will require farmers to get higher yields from the land), the more it just makes sense to live more sustainably.

Furthermore, I've been reading a lot on living simply.  Eliminating clutter from your home, reducing the number of things we buy, limiting the number of commitments we make, can all help us have a happier life.  I think this simple living is actually sustainable living. 

Personally, I don't think there is a better way to live and am making a priority to change my lifestyle to be more sustainable, simple.

So about that new bike...

So, Commuting . . .

I alluded in my last post to writing about riding my bike to work.

Since last fall, I've been riding my bike to work regularly.  In fact, apart from driving into work yesterday, I haven't driven since sometime in January (and then only sporadically). 

Here's some background.  I initially bought my bike in late summer of 2009 and found out that I really enjoyed riding.  I guess it contributed to a lifestyle change, since I started doing regular rides of 20 or 30 miles and started participating in longer supported rides.  Between riding, exercise in general, and watching calorie intake, I was able to lose roughly 30 pounds, give or take.

Then, last summer (after I had already dabbled in commuting), Bridget and I were driving to Door County and discussing what we should replace her vehicle with (we'd already started test driving cars), since her lease was up in November.  I remember the epiphany we both had in realizing that we didn't need to replace it at all. 

Anyway, yesterday's drive into work gave me the occassion to compare commuting by bike with commuting by car.

My ride (roughly 7.5 miles) takes me 25 to 30 minutes on the bike.  (To compare, my drive yesterday (no traffic since I left at about 9:45), took about 20 minutes, inclusive of the walk from the parking ramp to my office.)  My ride gives me a chance to get a good (twice) daily workout and helps me get rid of any stress that has built up throughout the work day.  It is wholly immune to traffic. 

I am also lucky to work for a company that is supportive of bike commuting and in a building that has all the features a commuter would want.  At my request, my company provides a $20/month bike commuter reimbursement.  Although that's not a lot of money (and although it pales in comparison to their reimbursement for parking a car), it does add up.  It paid for my new helmet this year.  The building has "bike boxes" that are lockable and available for $40/year.  It also has a workout facility on the skyway level where I can shower.  A normal day for me includes riding to and from work as well as having a mid-day workout.

Then there's the infrastructure.  About half of my commute is on well-maintained trails, most of which have lanes for cyclists in addition to a lane for pedestrians.  Most of the road riding in my commute is in bike lanes, and I've found that drivers in St. Paul and Minneapolis tend to be very aware of cyclists.  I've had very few problems with drivers.

That all adds up to a no-brainer, at least in my mind, about whether it makes sense to commute to work.

Now if I can just convince Bridget that I need a new bike . . .

Long Time . . .

So I guess it's been a little while since I used this blog.  There were huge weeds and cobwebs when I signed back in.  I think that's a bad sign.

Anyway, small recap (on the off-chance that a reader doesn't already know what's going on in our lives): We had another baby (Maggie, born 9/30/2010), moved both girls upstairs so we could have our office back (which has worked well), recently renovated our kitchen, and Bridget recently took a new job at General Mills.

I also started riding my bike to work (even in the winter) and we started a dining club with a couple friends. 

While I'll still plan on writing about the kids and so forth, I also want to use this blog to talk about my experiences commuting on my bike and our monthly dining club experiences.

So, last night we had our second dinner with our group.  (The first outing was to Meritage, a restaurant serving French cuisine in downtown St. Paul.  It was good.  I can now check off escargot and oysters off my list.)  Last night's pick was Senor Wong.  Senor Wong mixes Spanish and Asian dishes.  In other words, they serve Spasian food. 

We ordered drinks first, of course.  They have a variety of cocktails.  We tried a lot of them.  I was getting over a cold and didn't taste any of the drinks (or the food for that matter) but most of the drinks were tasty.  There was some discussion about "pearls" in one of the drinks and then discussion about whether Tapioca was Asian since it has "pearls" in it.  Honestly, that conversation went right over my (stuffed up) head.

We ordered a few appetizers, too: miso tots, won tons, and beef tataki.  The beef and the tots were our favorites. 

Senor Wong had a deal on a three course meal for $20 (soup, flautas, and flan cake).  I tried that.  The soup must have been spicy because it burned my throat (again, couldn't taste it but hoped it'd clear my sinuses).  The flautas were on a bed of cilantro rice and came with guacamole, and I could kind of taste them. 

We also tried some of the tacos (carnitas, barbacoa).  The carnitas didn't hold up to the amazing carnitas at Boca Chica, but that's the gold standard.  They weren't bad. 

Bridget and Cristine ordered the crazy noodles.  I think the noodles were only sufficiently crazy after being doused with spicy sauce.

All in all, this was a good place.  I am sure it would have tasted good had I been able to taste anything.  We're thinking next stop should be Trevail.

9 Month Update

I wanted to share a quick update on Maggie. She is fantastic. Her 9 month appointment was perfectly uneventful. She was 18 pounds and seems to be developing normally. She's starting to feed herself, rolls all over the house and I know she's going to be crawling very soon. She is just a sweetie and loves to be everywhere her sister is. 

Tomorrow is our follow-up appointment with the neonatologists at the U of M. This appointment was set up the day we left the NICU in early November. Hard to believe the day has arrived. I believe the doctors will be checking to make sure Maggie is developing properly. I think she is doing just great, but it will be nice to have confirmation.

Maggie is just amazing. She is so sweet. She loves to talk, watch American Idol, and play with her sister Cece. The nice weather has allowed us to go out on walks, which she also seems to enjoy.

Cece makes sure Maggie gets her tummy time in. In fact, she rolls her sister over and says "tubby time Maggie." And Maggie doesn't seem to mind.

I'll be sure to update our journal after tomorrow's appointment.

  

Thank You!

I want to take a moment to thank all of our friends and family for their love and support during our wild and crazy journey with Maggie. We certainly could not have made it through without you all. Thank you for the meals, the gifts, the babysitting, the dog walking, the house cleaning, etc. We cannot thank you enough.

Maggie is doing really well. This week she has started to coo and "talk" more. She gets the biggest kick out of our ceiling fan in the living room. She smiles at it all of the time. I like to think that she's smiling at her guardian angel, who must be quite entertaining.

I can't wait for all of the snow to disappear so we can go out on walks and see more of the world together.

Happy New Year!

A new year and a happy healthy baby is what we have. Maggie went to the clinic today for a weight check and she is now a whopping 8 lbs 10 oz. She has grown more 2 pounds in the last month! Jeff and I were so happy, given our eventful December with Maggie's hernia surgery.

Maggie's incision has healed nicely and she is eating great and sleeping great. She's starting to show us her adorable smile and is so interactive. She likes to hang out and play with her sister, look at her mobile, stare at our faces and everything. I feel like we've waited so long for these moments to come. I'm going to cherish every moment I can in the next few weeks before I have to go back to work.

  

Recovery

Home again. Maggie was discharged this morning. She spent the last 24 hours making up for those missed feedings yesterday. Her recovery in the hospital was quick and without any drama. She stayed to be monitored overnight just because of her age, otherwise this is an outpatient surgery.

Maggie is now sleeping peacefully and getting the rest she needs to feel better. I'm so happy to have her home again.

Surgery

Maggie is out of surgery and doing fine! She is such a brave girl. She couldn't eat several hours before surgery and we were so worried that she would cry for hours, but she was a rock star. Jeff gave her a bottle of fortified B milk at 6 am and pedialyte at 8:30. That was all she had until after surgery. While we waited she just slept. Such a relief to us, especially since she was more than an hour late going in to surgery!

Her right inguinal hernia was repaired and she did not have a hernia on the left. She came out of surgery just fine. I was able to nurse her at 4:30. She is taking Tylenol and Advil for pain.

We are at U of M Amplatz Children's hospital. I don't like it here. It makes me so sad to hear little kids and babies crying. I pray that we never have to bring our girls here for anything. I am thankful that Maggie is doing as great as she is. I look forward to weeks we don't need to see doctors or nurses or have to deal with shots or surgeries. It seems to be one thing after another. I'm just so exhausted. Good thing Maggie isn't too phased by all of this! I should take a page from her playbook on how to be calm, cool and collected.

Hernia

Maggie and I spent the morning at the clinic. Last night I noticed she might have a hernia in her groin, so I made an appointment to get her checked out this morning. Sure enough, it's as I expected.

We have to take her on Monday to the U of M to consult with a surgeon. The doctor we saw today says it's pretty likely that they will have to operate. The doctor said that preemies are more prone to hernias.

It doesn't seem to hurt her, but we have to keep a close eye on Maggie until her Monday appointment to make sure things don't change.

On a more positive note, Maggie weighed 6 lbs 13 oz today. She's been growing an ounce a day this past week. That expains all of the frequent feedings.

Synagis Fun

Today Maggie got her Synagis shot, which was administered by a home health nurse. Jeff and I were shocked to learn how much each dose costs. We had to get it delivered via FedEx from a specialtly pharmacy. Maggie is going to get these shots once a month during RSV season - which goes through April in Minnesota.

Maggie is doing just great. She weighed 6 lbs 11 ounces today. She's been eating every 2 hours today, a sign that she's growing!

Maggie is spending more time awake. She now likes to hang out after she eats. Tonight we read bedtime stories to both girls. Cece layed right next to her sister on the floor and gave her kisses while we read Goodnight Moon. Too cute!

Two Months Old Already?!

Our girl is growing! Today we took Maggie and Cece to the pediatrician (Maggie's two month visit and Cece's 18 month). I'm happy to report that Maggie is now 6 pounds 6 ounces!!! Maggie's due date was Monday, so she's now 5 days corrected age (9 weeks already). The doctor's visit was quite a production, with the snow falling today our travel time was insane, plus both girls had to get shots. Lots of tears. Not fun.

Cece was very sad to see her sister get shots and get blood drawn. Maggie's hemoglobin needed to be checked because she was born so early she didn't get all of her iron stores from me.

We have a nurse coming tomorrow for Maggie's Synagis shot (RSV immunity booster). That was quite an ordeal to get scheduled. I don't know how many people and companies and clinics I needed to talk to this week. I'm finally seeing the inefficiencies of our healthcare system.

On the home front, Maggie moved up to her beautiful new room before Thanksgiving and is sleeping so well in her crib. Her room is much warmer than the rest of our drafty old house, so I think it's helping her grow! We moved some of Cece's toys up there, too, so she has some fun things to play with if we're nursing, or changing diapers, etc.

I have lots of new pictures of our cutie pie, which I'll have to add when I get a free moment. We're still trying to figure out how to coordinate the demands of a newborn and 18 month old. Thankfully, Cece is getting better at keeping herself entertained and is sleeping through the night again. The first week with Maggie, Cece would wake up in the middle of the night, so were dealing with two kids in the wee hours.

We are looking forward to getting ready for the holidays and hope to spend time with family and friends.

Growing

We had another visit from a home health nurse today affiliated with Children's hosptial. Maggie is now 5 lbs 9 ounces. She is growing at a good rate and within the acceptable range of weight gain the doctors have set for her. We have another appointment on Tuesday to check her weight.

Adjusting and Not Adjusting

As I write this, Maggie is sleeping peacefully in her swing, while her sister is having a major protest about going to bed. Cece has been having a hard time this week sharing attention with Maggie. She doesn't quite understand why she can't instantly have her way. The joys of parenting.

Maggie seems to be getting bigger and bigger each day. We have a home health nurse coming on Thursday to examine Maggie and weigh her. I'm guessing she'll be nearing 6 pounds.
I had my 6 week post partum appointment today. My c-section incision seems to be healing just fine. I am experiencing some pain still, which is from the scar tissue. Nothing lots of advil can't fix.

Home + 1 Week

It's Saturday and Maggie has been home with us an entire week. She is just so cute and sweet. I've really enjoyed getting to know her more.

She's so easy. She eats like a champ and sleeps like a rock. We no longer have to wake her up to eat. She has developed her own sleep/wake patterns that are like clockwork. She eats about every 3 1/2 hours and easily goes back to sleep. Compared to her sister, she is a dream baby! (Cece was incredibly colicky the first 3 months)

Cece has adjusted to being a big sister. She is very helpful. She brings her sister diapers, hats, burp cloths, etc.

Home Health Visit

We had a visit from a home health nurse yesterday to see how Maggie has been progressing over the weekend. She has gained weight since discharge, which is awesome! I guess we know what we're doing after all. All day Sunday I think we were overfeeding her. Milk coming out of her nose is not a good thing.

Today, we took Maggie to the clinic to get her checked out. Maggie got a clean bill of health. We'll Take her back in a month or so to check her hemoglobin and either will take her to the clinic to get her weighed every week or have a nurse come over to weigh her at home. She'll also get another RSV shot in a month or so.

We're settling into a routine at home and Cece's learning how to be a good big sister. It's so nice to have everyone under the same roof!

HOME AT LAST!

After nearly 6 long weeks, Maggie is finally home. We were discharged yesterday afternoon from the NICU. Maggie is doing just great. Cece loved meeting her sister and was very cute during their first encounter. She has been trying to figure out how to help out with the baby, and we're trying to figure that out too.

Maggie has been great for us. She is a perfect angel. She is eating every 3 hours or so. We have to be sure to wake her if she doesn't wake up 3-4 hours since her last feeding. We are working moving from bottle feeds to nursing, but still have to make sure she is eating enough to stay hydrated and gain weight. We have to nurse, then offer her a bottle.

At some point she'll be weaned off of the bottles. The more practice she gets and the stronger she gets the faster this will go. For now, it's a lot of work, but totally worth it.

It's so nice to get to know Maggie more. I've actually heard her cry a few times. She is an easy baby. She just eats and easily goes back to sleep. Cece is not so easy, but happy that Mom is finally home, too.

Roomies!

Jeff and I have moved to the East Wing with Maggie. We are in our own private room and responsible for her care! Yikes! We just finished her first feeding. It was rather difficult to give her the bottle, since we're still learning, but we managed to get her fed.

If Maggie is able to gain weight overnight, we can bring her home tomorrow morning. If not, we will be here another day and bring her home on Sunday.

Jeff is kangarooing Maggie and I just made popcorn so we can watch National Treasure!

Ready to Room In

Maggie moved to cue based feeds today and met all of her goals for the first 12 hours! This means she took the required volume set by her docs all by mouth (no gavage).

Jeff came with to the hospital today and gave Maggie a bottle (and did an amazing job, might I add). She now has to meet her goals for the next 12 hours and then we move to ad lib feeds, which are less strict/regimented.

Tomorrow we get to move in to the East Wing for the weekend of rooming in with Maggie. We'll basically be responsible for her care around the clock (of course with the nurses just down the hall on call in case we have questions or need help). She'll be coming home with us on Sunday or Monday (all depends on how well she does). I'm hoping Sunday.

Tomorrow I'll be at the hospital for the mid morning to mid afternoon, then I'll go home for dinner with the family and Jeff and I will come back to settle in with Maggie for the weekend. My folks are coming up to watch Cece and our furry babies (Ole and Artie).

Homeward Bound!

It's Wednesday and Maggie is doing gangbusters! Last night she passed her car seat test (had to sit in her seat for one hour with no issues). Today, Maggie is in the swanky new nursery - Nursery 7. It's really pretty and peaceful in there. Very zen.

Tomorrow she is 5 weeks old (36 weeks 2 days) and Maggie will move to cue based feeds. After about 24-48 hours of success, she'll no longer need her gavage feedings. This means that we're looking at "rooming in" with Maggie by the weekend and bringing her home Sunday or Monday!!!

I'm so excited that our time in the NICU is nearing an end. This has been an emotional, stressful and trying five weeks for our entire family. We certainly could not have made it through without the love, prayers and support of so many wonderful family members and amazing friends. Thank you to everyone who has helped us out. We are so greatful.

We will continue to keep everyone posted on Maggie's progress!